Manila is under water

Catholic News Service

1/01/70

Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo at a Catholic church submerged in floodwaters in Manila, Philippines, Aug. 8. The couple pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of the capital and nine nearby provinces.

A resident checks his submerged house after flooding in Manila, Philippines, Aug. 7. Half of Manila was under water Aug. 7, officials said, as torrential rains paralyzed the Philippine capital in the worst floods since a typhoon killed more than 400 people in 2009.

MANILA, Philippines - Flooding caused by days of torrential
rains forced more than a quarter million people from their
homes in parts of the Philippine capital and surrounding
provinces.

The government said that at least 50 percent of metropolitan
Manila was under water, displacing an estimated 270,000
people, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.

The deep water blocked roads, stranded motorists and flooded
homes. Water was up to 9 feet deep in some neighborhoods and
was waist deep throughout much of the city center, according
to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
said Aug. 7 that at least 53 people had died since the onset
of the rains July 28.

Five others were reported missing and 35 were injured.

Church aid agencies mobilized to provide supplies and hygiene
kits to displaced families.

Joe Curry, country representative for Catholic Relief Service
in the Philippines, told Catholic News Service Aug. 8 that
the agency planned to distribute materials to 1,000 families
staying in evacuation centers.

While the rain eased Aug. 8, Curry said people were expected
to remain in the centers for days.

"We're waiting to see how quickly the water recedes," he
said. "A lot of people were evacuated pre-emptively. We have
to wait and see how many people go back tomorrow or the next
day."

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration had declared a red alert late Aug. 6
after dams and rivers near the capital overflowed.

Authorities shut off electrical power to much of the city.

The government suspended work and classes in the Manila
metropolitan area and the provinces of Bataan, Bulacan,
Cavite, Laguna, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, Tarlac and
Zambales.

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said 100 evacuation
centers, including 42 in the capital region, had opened to
receive people forced from their homes.

Overall, about 1 million people in 35 provinces were affected
by the flooding. The region around the capital is home to 12
million people.

Police officers and army reservists were sent to help with
rescue efforts, CNN reported.

Government meteorologists said heavy rain from Typhoon Saola
began July 28 and that storm was followed immediately by the
normal monsoon rains that affect the region in July and
August. A second tropical storm northeast of Taiwan enhanced
the monsoons, causing up to an inch and half of rain to fall
per hour, meteorologists said.